Chicago reels in a pre-Broadway 'Big Fish'

Norbert Leo Butz (left) and John Lithgow in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" on Broadway in 2005.

Norbert Leo Butz (left) and John Lithgow in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" on Broadway in 2005.

"Big Fish," the new Broadway musical based on the 1998 novel "Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions" by Daniel Wallace and a 2003 movie penned by John August and directed by Tim Burton, will have its pre-Broadway tryout in Chicago in the spring.

The book is by August with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa ("The Addams Family"). Susan Stroman is the director. The producers are Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen.

Although Michael C. Hall was previously involved with a project first announced as coming to Broadway this past spring, the star of the show will now be Norbert Leo Butz, the star of the original Broadway productions of "Catch Me If You Can" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels." Butz will play the lead role of Edward Bloom, the former traveling salesman with an estranged son and a love of epic storytelling.

Since the announced Chicago dates are to be April 2 through May 5 at the Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St., pushing past the crucial Tony Awards deadline, "Big Fish" won't be on Broadway this season, but will likely arrive in New York next fall.

This is the second pre-Broadway tryout snagged by Broadway in Chicago this season: "Kinky Boots," part of the 2012-13 Broadway season, will premiere at the Bank of America Theatre in Chicago this fall.